Official Qobuz Issues Thread

[Talisman]

Nearly every search for a favorite reggae artist came up empty. Here are the artists and albums I can't find so far:

 

Soja – Get Wiser

Chronixx – Dread & Terrible

Niyorah – Fullest Confidence

Gonzo – Rocksteady

Joss Stone – Water for Your Soul (her reggae album)

Katchafire – Legacy

Ziggy Marley – Love is My Religion

Tribal Seeds – Representing

Sinead O’Connor – Throw Down Your Arms (her reggae album)

Protoje – The 8 Year Affair

Inna Vision – Lifted (and all other albums)

Eli-Mac – DubStop EP (and all other albums)

 

If you're not into reggae, you might not know all these folks...but many are legends. You can find them on other music services, which is where I found most of them in the first place. I realize we must be patient while Qobuz builds out their USA library, but I hope to hear a response or see some of these artists there soon.

 

Reggae also isn't one of the genres listed on the Discover page. It's hard not to be bummed about that.

[Talisman]

14 hours ago, PAR said:

 Qobuz has a sensible 10 or so genres. If you start wanting one for every possible sub genre of every headline form of music this would result in an unmanageable mess of dozens or even hundred of genres.  Reggae is a  sub genre of pop or rock . And even Reggae itself has sub genres and lovers of related forms such as Ska, Blue Beat, Lovers Rock, Dub, Roots Reggae etc, could justifiably want their own sub sub genres. And that is just one branch of music. Should there be separate genres for Rock, Garage, British Invasion, Rockabilly, Alternative, Grunge, Grime etc. etc? Or should classical fans have Symphony, Oratorio, Chamber, Opera, Instrumental, Vocal genres and so on? There is no end to this taxonomy. My advice is Keep It Simple or you will never find what you are searching for.

 

Reggae is not a subgenre of pop or rock. It could even be said to predate pop and (especially) rock, if you know its origins. Reggae is a genre in and of itself. Qobuz has several Panorama features for reggae. The fact that you quoted five reggae subgenres (among others) actually strengthens the point.

 

I'm all for simplicity, but you made a good point of "never finding what you're searching for." That's what Search is for. It's not that difficult. Qobuz has already indexed by both genre and subgenre (please see screenshot showing Reggae and Dub, and there are many more), so listing them the way I ask would be child's play.

 

[Talisman]

13 hours ago, brianlg said:

I would need a better representation of Black Metal albums in order to switch over fully to Qobuz. I enjoy Qobuz quite a bit, but Tidal's catalog is much more rich in terms of what I listen to. Will there ever be parity between the two? Interesting how the albums are available on other services, but Qobuz does not have them.

 

Switching from Google Play Music and Amazon Music HD, I'm finding that Qobuz has roughly 70% of my 2379 saved albums. Normally, that wouldn't be enough to switch services (except for the amazing audio quality!) However, I've read here and elsewhere that we need to be patient while Qobuz finishes its USA licensing agreements to build out its library.

[Talisman]

Are there any differences (outside of ASIO and WASAPI Exclusive Mode) between the Qobuz desktop vs. web browser apps?

[Talisman]

15 hours ago, PAR said:

Yes. There is no gapless replay using the web browser app ( I just checked). In fact I don't know whether it is technically possible. It s big problem for my tastes ( mainly classical music) but may not be such a handicap for genres where each track = a new song .

 

Thank you. Gapless replay is important to Pink Floyd fans like me.

 

I had also forgotten that the web player can't commandeer your keyboard's media keys globally the way the desktop player can. With the web player, you can only use keyboard shortcuts when it's in focus and, with my Logitech G910 keyboard, the media keys don't work at all.

 

I had created a Chrome web app out of the web player, so I could put a shortcut on the taskbar and launch it as an app instead of a browser window. I had high hopes, because the web player remembers your text sizing and refreshes more reliably after you add or delete from playlists. Plus, I just read here that the web player will be the first to get the new, improved search.

 

Oh well. Back to the desktop player.

[Talisman]

1 hour ago, David Craff said:

 

You can force the refresh of the desktop player with CTRL + R or COMMAND + R

Yes the Desktop support the media key

The new search will arrive on the desktop one day after the web player is there is no issue.

 

Thanks for the force refresh tip! Now, if I can just make the desktop player resize text off the small default and keep it that way!

[Talisman]

38 minutes ago, Polyglot said:

There is a big bug with the way search results are being presented. Let's say I search for a term with many results like 'Mozart'. I scroll down a few pages, find something interesting, and click on it. I examine the recording and click back to return to the search results. I'm not taken to where I left though but to the top of the search results. Thus I must scroll down again and try to find the place where I left off. Needless to say, this greatly hampers the ability to examine search results. It is very important that this be corrected.

+1 to this!

[Talisman]

On 11/12/2019 at 6:02 AM, Mark Dirac said:

There is a more general usability disappointment in the Windows application, in that it is always (usually?) the case that if you navigate away from a page to investigate something, when you return your context/place is lost. For example, when scrolling through a long playlist, the same happens as reported by Mr. Polyglot above with searching - if you check out an entry in your playlist, and then return, you are returned to the top of the playlist listing, and have to navigate back down again to where you started.

The same issue happens when you delete a song(s) in a playlist (both apps, bit I use the Windows desktop app). Even if the songs you delete are far down the playlist, the playlist then shoots back to the top. Maddening. 

[Talisman]

Forgive me if this has already been posted, but I looked everywhere. Selecting songs from a large playlist to put on a different playlist, I noticed there are several incorrect artists. The song is correct, the album is correct, but the artist is wrong. (Please see attached screenshots for two examples out of many.) Often, the correct artist will be listed in the credits if I click the information icon. I also noticed that several artists are listed as "Various Interprets" instead of the actual artists names.

 

On my 584-song playlist, roughly every 40th artist was wrong. When I'm looking for a song by Sam Smith, I would have no inkling that the song is listed in Qobuz under some cat named Jimmy Napes. I know that seems picky, but I could go weeks without finding a wrong artist listing on my previous streaming service.

[Talisman]

Qobuz Windows desktop player and web player are both down for me right now (7:54 AM Eastern US). The web player has an error message saying "The Internet connection has been lost, you are now in offline mode." The desktop player has only the spinning Qobuz logo and blank boxes where Discover album covers should be.

 

Anyone else?

 

[Talisman]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Back up. 
 

Me too. All good.

 

[Talisman]

Qobuz will need to elevate their Search and Artist Bio game in the wake of the 2020 Grammy announcements. 

 

Album of the Year artists H.E.R. and Lil Nas X can't even be found in a search, although I did find H.E.R.'s nominated album "I Used to Know Her" by searching for the album name.

 

Qobuz has no bio for Lil Nas X, arguably the artist with the most press in 2019 and the only artist ever to hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remain there for 19 weeks. Also, Qobuz has no bio for Album of the Year and Best New Artist nominee Billie Eilish, nor eight-time nominee Lizzo.

 

As you go through the 80 Grammy categories, the holes in metadata pile up, and the missing artists are the opposite of obscure. I realize that it will take Qobuz some time to build out artist profiles and the music library — but the year's most acclaimed artists, songs, and albums are a good place to start.

[Talisman]

1 hour ago, rando said:

 

I personally don't attach the foundation Qobuz was built upon to industry award ceremonies.  That foundation being music you can't find any and everywhere in profuse amounts.  Specifically in certain genres where high res music that wasn't stepped on by a compressor is prevalent.  If you look at the direct selling point of the streaming options you might find that splashy mainstream popcentric atmosphere as the fullest expression of what Tidal courts customers using.  Not saying these 80 odd selections are unimportant to many of Qobuz' customers.  Just appreciative entire worlds beyond it do exist and continue being nurtured.  

 

The more seasoned have accepted no single entity is capable (or willing in that case) of doing what multiple currently provide.  Try out Roon if prose entitles your listening, HQP if you feel the music only truly lives at the highest rates.  Dictate less and derive more enjoyment out of what you find you can put together for your own personal needs.  Three sentences on an overexposed artist shouldn't be that heavily weighted. 

 

I believe you missed my point entirely.

 

You are certainly correct: Qobuz doesn't exist to publicize those poor, underexposed pop stars any more than they already are. However, like all other major streaming services, Qobuz is properly and admirably promoted as a service for all users. While other music services may elevate certain types of music on their promo pages, all music services here in the USA democratically offer a remarkably similar 40+ million tracks. I'm just saying that they should be equally democratic about artist bios and search results.

 

The overriding point I was making is that Grammy nominees are low-hanging fruit for metadata. I don't know where Qobuz gets their metadata, but there is a wealth of information on these nominees.

 

Also, it's not 80 Grammy selections — it's 80 categories, each with a slew of selections. And it's not all pop music. People ignorant of the Grammys think that it's all pop, because that's what's highlighted on the broadcast. There's World music, classical, Latin, jazz, and many more categories you would agree are right at home on Qobuz. They even celebrate the year's best-engineered albums. A good number of the nominees offer high-resolution albums.

 

Finally, this is an issues forum. Thank you, but I already know how to enjoy music, with eclectic tastes light-years beyond pop. However, if we didn't bring up issues helpful for improving the music service we love, there would be no purpose to this forum.

[Talisman]

When in WASAPI (Exclusive Mode) in the Qobuz desktop app, if I pause a song and try to listen to any other Windows sounds, the Qobuz app won't let go of Exclusive Mode and let me, for example, watch and listen to a YouTube video.

 

The only way to hear any other sounds while Qobuz is stopped is to exit out of the Qobuz app entirely. That's not ideal at work because I need to zip back and forth between Qobuz and web videos at times.

 

If I listen to Qobuz via the Audirvana app and hit the Stop button, Audirvana properly lets go of Exclusive Mode and I can listen to other sources on the PC. However, I prefer the Qobuz app. (I do realize the Qobuz doesn't have a Stop button, only a Pause button.)

 

I know that the WASAPI Shared setting will let me do what I ask, but I'm after the cleaner audio path of Exclusive Mode with options to hear other sources when the Qobuz desktop app is stopped.

[Talisman]

8 hours ago, PAR said:

I hope that I understand your problem and apologise in advance if I have got it wrong but if you are using the Qobuz desktop player and not the browser version here goes;
 

Go to the task bar at the bottom of the player.  Look along it to the far right and the last icon ( next to the volume bar). It looks like a drawing of a DAP and USB cable. Click on that and select e.g. Direct Sound or other preference instead of WASAPI Exclusive for your audio device and then go off to YouTube or whatever. Reverse the selection when you return to Qobuz. Is that of any help?

 

I just tried  and replicated what I think is your problem. The above works and you do not need to close Qobuz. I suggest that the reason that it does not switch from one to the other without making the change in "Audio Devices" is because to get WASAPI Exclusive to work the Win 10 sound engine has to be set to " allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" and " give exclusive mode applications priority". So Win 10 is doing exactly that whilst Qobuz is both open and set to WASAPI exclusive.

 

Thank you for your thoughtful answer. Correct on all counts.

 

I am aware that Windows is giving Qobuz exclusive control as designed when I am set to WASAPI Exclusive. I'm also aware that choosing WASAPI Shared or Direct Sound will allow other sounds to play without closing Qobuz.

 

What I was hoping for was to get the superior signal path of WASAPI Exclusive with Qobuz, along with Qobuz releasing exclusive control once the app is stopped, as Audirvana/Qobuz does with its WASAPI Exclusive setting. All without me changing my sound preference away from WASAPI Exclusive.

[Talisman]

15 hours ago, rando said:

Tried this on multiple W10 computers, all using exclusive mode (with both web and desktop app).  No issues.  

 

I'd suggest this has a good chance of being less about Qobuz than your work computing environment.  A more detailed report on the issue would in any case be helpful for any party determined to troubleshoot.  

 

Thank you for the input. I checked for the same issue on Windows 10 living room PC, and it's the same. Both computers are absolute beasts, with the latest versions of Windows 10 and Qobuz. I posted the issue to see if anyone else was having it. I thought it was more about Qobuz than my PC environment because Qobuz through Audirvana properly releases Exclusive Mode when stopped.

 

But if not one else has the issue, we can move on. No big deal, it only affects my office computer, because the living room PC runs only one app: Qobuz in ASIO.

[Talisman]

1 hour ago, left channel said:

@Talisman what you are reporting is normal, and it seems to me you are making a feature request not a bug report. If you have selected "Allow applications to take exclusive control" and "Give exclusive mode applications priority" — which are the correct Windows system settings — then music apps that can do so will normally not release control until they are shut down.

It's great to hear that Audirvana will release control when Stop is pressed. That is a unique feature of Audirvana, and proof that you get what you pay for with an app like that. The Qobuz and Tidal apps, and all or most desktop music player apps, do not release control until you exit.

 

So basically what we're talking about here is a feature request.

 

Oh yeah, I am intimately aware of Windows 10 control panel settings — especially that one. I believe you nailed it on both counts: Audirvana is one of those "you get what you pay for" apps (but the Qobuz app is so much prettier and has mouse/keyboard back navigation!), and I suppose this does fall under the category of feature request.

 

Thank you for weighing in on this. The Qobuz desktop app feature set easily eclipses this small addition to the feature wishlist.

[Talisman]

19 minutes ago, Mark Dirac said:

Intriguing. My Qobuz application (Windows 10) doesn't do this. Are you on Apple? Does something need to be enabled?

 

I'm on Windows 10. I just checked out the app again. Yep, it works--from any page. I didn't need to enable anything.

[Talisman]

On 11/24/2019 at 11:09 AM, rando said:

I'm sorry, but that does little to provide any further helpful information about either of the computers or the potential causes.  Hopefully Qobuz staff will be able to investigate through an error report and resolve this issue for you.

Left Channel weighed in and surmised that expecting Qobuz desktop to match Audirvana’s Exclusive Mode release feature may have been too much to ask. I’m totally cool with that. I never bothered to regale readers with my particular PC specs, as I don’t need help on the hardware side. I was convinced it was a lack of a software feature, which was corroborated by other postings. 

[Talisman]

On 12/1/2019 at 4:07 PM, Mark Dirac said:

Has anyone found / proved that we can use a USB flash drive or SD card for the cache and imports? I don't see the need to use my SSD, and would like the max allowable 100GB cache space. Since speed and reliability are not important for cache and importing, does it work to use cheap external storage?

 

(I don't want to check it out myself 'cos I will lose my current cache and I guess I will need to attach a fixed drive letter to a USB drive.)

That’s a good question. Also, I was wondering why we have a cache. What does it do? What happens if you set it to zero? I don’t recall managing one with any of the other music services I’ve used, at least not on the desktop. 

[Talisman]

2 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

At the first listening of a track, it will be retrieved from our servers to be listened to live. The second time that a listening will be done on this track, as long as it is still in cache, the listening will then be done directly from the file present in the application. In this case, there is no need to retrieve the track from our servers again.
You gain in speed, in the use of your Internet connection and you can also listen to it offline.
The import works the same way, the only difference is that you have control over the tracks you want to cache.

 

Thank you, David. I was going nuts trying to figure it out!

[Talisman]

3 hours ago, Polyglot said:

A new update was released, however the supremely annoying issue of being taken back to the top of search results or of a playlist after clicking on an item and then going back wasn't fixed. What a disappointment.

 

The ability to show all tracks of a release with a single click wasn't implemented either.

 

The "top of search results" thing is at the top of my wishlist, too.

[Talisman]

3 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Given that this site has been around for 2 years and you've been here for about 1.5 year, I'd say you haven't seen most of the discussions. People here love to discuss everything. Too much! 

 

I'd say your comments above come off as pompous, patronizing, and like you parachuted in here to offer information that nobody other than you could possibly know. Followed by how you'd run the business if it was yours. Just my observation of your comments. Nothing personal. Perhaps I've misunderstood you.

 

The Qobuz team has been here since they launched and have listened to everyone. They didn't listen to you but decided to other larger issues first. 

 

Again, nothing personal.

I wouldn’t characterize Polyglot’s posts as “pompous” or “patronizing.” Maybe frustrated, but I totally get that. Let’s not do the name-calling thing, and keep things friendly. Adding “nothing personal” after insults doesn’t make it so. 

[Talisman]

Some missing or incorrect items:

• Ruth B. is listed as B. Ruth on Qobuz.
• Nicola Conte's album "The Modern Sounds of Nicola Conte; Versions in Jazz-Dub" is a two-disc set. Qobuz has only one of the discs.

[Talisman]

51 minutes ago, rando said:

 

As previously posted on this forum.  Please insert the album ID # after "p?"

What is album ID# after "p?" That reads like gibberish to me. Also, as PAR stated, the link only goes to a logon page.